High data reliability, high speed of memory access, and reduced chip size are features that are demanded from semiconductor memory. In recent years, there has been an effort to further increase the speed of memory access.
Conventional semiconductor devices include many different circuits that operate at different voltage levels, and as circuitry continues toward reduction in size, precision and accuracy of operation voltages used within the semiconductor device becomes even more critical to reliable operation. Often, the internal voltages are derived from a reference voltage provided to the semiconductor device using internal voltage generator circuitry. Some internal voltages are more efficiently generated than other internal voltages. Due to a desire for smaller circuitry and lower power consumption, some circuitry may operate at a lower voltage than other circuitry. Driver circuits may be used to provide a signal from lower voltage circuitry to higher voltage circuitry. The driver circuits may each include voltage level shifters to bridge the voltage difference gap, adding additional circuitry to each driver circuit. The extra circuitry consumes available area and consumes additional power.